Colleges announce teaching award winners

Author: William G. Gilroy

The undergraduate colleges of the University of Notre Dame have selected their outstanding teachers for the 2003-04 academic year.p. In the College of Arts and Letters, William H. Leahy, professor of economics, and A. Peter Walshe, professor of political science, have been named recipients of the 2004 Sheedy Award for excellence in teaching.p. Endowed by an anonymous donor, the award has been given annually since 1970 in memory of Rev. Charles C. Sheedy, C.S.C., former dean of the college.p. Leahys scholarly interests lie in the areas of labor economics and regional economics. He has written and edited five books and more than 50 articles in these areas. He has served as an administrator, including department chair and director of undergraduate studies and advising, for more than 30 years, and has been a member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1963.p. Walshe focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, specializing in the political history of South Africa, political movements and church-state relations. His publications includeThe Rise of African Nationalism in South Africa,Church versus State in South AfricaandProphetic Christianity and the Liberation Movement in South Africa.He joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1966p. In the College of Engineering, Joannes Westerink, associate professor of civil engineering and geological sciences, has been named Outstanding Teacher of the Year.p. Westerink has developed a computer model that more accurately predicts the storm surge caused by hurricanes. Storm surge is the height that hurricane-force winds push ocean water above mean sea level. The size of storm surge is an important piece of data forecasters use in assessing the threat of costal flooding due to a hurricane. He has been a member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1989.p. In the College of Science, Alan L. Johnson, professor of biological sciences, has been chosen as the recipient of the Shilts/Leonard Teaching Award.p. Johnson joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1993 and specializes in ovarian follicle differentiation, apoptosis (programmed cell death) and ovarian cancer. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.p. Established in 1993, the Shilts/Leonard Award recognizes outstanding teaching in memory of Rev. James L. Shilts, C.S.C., a longtime Notre Dame astronomy and astrophysics professor who died in 1982. The award was endowed by Eugene T. Leonard, a surgeon and 1940 alumnus of the University.p. In the Mendoza College of Business, William L. Wilkie, Aloysius and Eleanor Nathe Professor of Marketing, has been selected to receive the colleges undergraduate teaching award, which is sponsored by the British oil company BP. The recipient is chosen each year by the graduating class.p. Wilkie joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1987 and specializes in marketing, advertising and consumer behavior issues and on public policy and legal issues in marketing. He has served as an expert witness in a number of cases involving advertising, consumer protection and marketers freedoms. Listed as one of the 10most-citedmarketing authors over the past quarter century, he also recently was named one of 28thought leadersfor his work.

TopicID: 5201